Ryan Reynolds says he’s ‘kicking himself’ for not including this real-life imaginary friend in “IF”

If given a chance, Reynolds says he'd "kill to voice" this imaginary friend from his family's past.

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Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming had to use their imaginations to play the only two humans who can see all the world's imaginary friends in IF because, it turns out, neither of them actually had one growing up.

Fleming, 17, started acting at age 7, so she blames her lack of imaginary friends (or IFs) on the fact that she was already playing make-believe in the adventure land of acting from a young age. And while Reynolds' mother swears he did have an imaginary friend, the actor insists it was his brother, Jeff, who had the IF in the family — a make-believe bear named Pokey. "We all had to be respectful about Pokey because even at that age, I was aware of Pokey as a coping mechanism. He was a friend to my brother in ways he desperately needed," he recalls.

"I think we all carry some version of our imaginary friends into adulthood," he continues. "Sometimes they take the form of a dog or a cat or a partner or a real-life human friend, but they all fulfill us or protect us in similar ways." (And, if given a chance, he says he'd "kill to voice" his brother’s IF. In fact, he adds, "I’m kind of kicking myself that I didn’t push to include Pokey in the film. If we’re ever lucky enough to do this again and make another IF film, I want to come back as Pokey. Seeing ol’ Pokey on the big screen would punch my brother right in the heart.")

Written, directed, produced, and also starring John Krasinski, IF follows Fleming's Bea, a young girl going through "all the emotions" during a tough time in her life when she discovers she has "this kind of superpower" — she can see everyone's IFs. "The only other person who can see all of these IFs is Ryan's character," she explains. "So, throughout the movie, you'll see they strike up a little friendship and go on an adventure together to try and reconnect IFs with kids."

Reynolds' Cal, also Bea's neighbor, "feels quite cynical from the jump" and is "an old school, almost vaudevillian straight man," explains the actor. "In a lot of ways, he represents the audience on this journey to seeing, and eventually believing, in the thing that’s just under the surface — that feeling which inspired people to reconnect with their imaginary friend," he adds.

The IFs, being imaginary and all, are mostly animated or CGI, which, ironically, forced the actors to use their imaginations when interacting with the creatures. In one of Fleming's favorite sequences, Bea and Cal interview a series of IFs, and she could not stop cracking up at Reynolds' improvising. "I actually think John had to use bloopers for the film because I could not stop laughing," she says, adding, "But it's really hard to be professional whenever you're interviewing things that aren't there with Ryan Reynolds right next to you."

Steve Carell, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper, Keegan-Michael Key, Matthew Rhys, Emily Blunt, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr., and Blake Lively are just some of the major Hollywood stars who lent their vocal talents to the IFs. With so many to choose from, it's hard to pick a favorite, but Fleming concedes that Lewis, a bear and leader of the IFs voiced by the late Gossett Jr., will be a fan favorite. "It literally touches my heart every time he comes on the screen," she says.

Meanwhile, Reynolds says he would be "an awful person" if he didn't choose Carell's character, Blue. "Steve Carell brings a warmth, humanity, and glee to Blue that just feels like heaven on earth. Every time I’ve seen the film, I want to ask Carell to adopt me and re-raise me as his own," he jokes.

The film is Fleming's first major big-screen role, after having previously played Judith Grimes on The Walking Dead and young versions of Rey and Sylvie in Star Wars and Loki, respectively. She says she learned a ton from working with Reynolds, Krasinski, and Fiona Shaw, who plays Bea's grandmother, but one of the biggest things she took away from the experience was the magic of the IFs themselves. "Obviously, using my imagination was a huge part of this movie, which I now try to incorporate into my everyday life," she says. And she hopes audiences get a similar takeaway. "I really think it's a movie for everyone. Really, the only thing that I can ask for is that people go into the theater and walk out feeling differently than when they came in. Hopefully, they feel more inspired or creative, or hopefully, they walk out with a smile on their face," she says.

For Deadpool star Reynolds, getting to make something his and Lively's four kids will love "is one of the best feelings on earth." "They so completely understood the concept and premise immediately. Their imaginations were super-charged — they went to work drawing as many potential IFs as possible from their own imagination," he says, adding that his kids also have their own version of an advent calendar counting down the days until the film comes out. Jokes Reynolds, "I’m still negotiating with my wife if they can see Deadpool & Wolverine, so having something like IF feels very good to me as a dad."

IF hits theaters on May 17.

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